


Dog Days Are Over

by addib



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Funeral Scene, M/M, Minor Character Death, Phil's dad dies, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic, totally stole this from Grey's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 09:26:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14133159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addib/pseuds/addib
Summary: "He was a real bastard.""I know.""Then why the hell am I crying."





	Dog Days Are Over

**Author's Note:**

> Phillip's dad dies. Emotions happen.

Phillip knew his father wasn't in the best health. It could be seen in his off colored skin, and the way he couldn't get a word in around his coughing anymore. Phillip knew, but there is a difference between knowing and understanding. The knowing edged up on him over the last months of his father's life. His mother would hardly leave his father's bedside the last weeks. 

Phillip was called to his childhood home the day before his father was admitted to the hospital. He thought it was for his father to make amends this was not the case.

"You're out of the will," were the words that greeted him upon entering his parent's room. This was a room he had never before been allowed to see. The one time he snuck in, he received a beating from the damnable cane that prevented him from sitting properly for days afterward. 

"I thought I was called for you to make amends," Phillip said staying in the doorway. Even though he had run off to join the circus, he was raised to be invited to sit down in a formal setting. And any room that housed his father was a formal setting no matter what Phineas said.

"You throw away your inheritance to join the circus. You go to a public event with that  _girl_ , and then friends of ours inform us over dinner that you have turned yourself into that of a  _man loving fairy_! And you have the audacity to say that I need to make amends," all of this was followed by a racking cough. His father, though gravely ill, still held himself with pride. Phillip did not have to fight the urge to help him very much.

"Father I have loved and lost and rebuilt my life more times than you ever have had to do. But I don't want to leave any semblance of a relationship we might have like this: in shambles," he was buttering up to his father's need for everything to be perfect. He knew this, and his mother, who was sitting quietly by the bed, knew this. But his father didn't seem to recognize a minor conn such as this. Falling head over heels for the King of Humbug had its many benefits.

"You are out of the will. You are officially disowned. Change your name and get out of this house," Theodore Carlyle said raising himself up enough to hold that damn cane at Phillip's chest. Effectively showing him the door.

Looking like he had been struck across the face, Phillip looked desperately at his mother. All he got, in turn, was a shake of the head. And with that Phillip Bailey turned on his heel and left the place of his childhood.

Phillip was not told until the day before the funeral that his father had died. And it wasn't by anyone that he knew. A small boy that had known hard labor at such a young age had run up and told him in a jumble of panicked words and hopping feet. 

"Your father died. He's being buried tomorrow at the family plot. Thought you should know. Sorry. Bye," and the boy was gone as fast as he came. Leaving Phillip feeling just a bit lost. 

PT found the younger man sitting under the stands staring at a tumblr of drink. Without a word, PT shot the drink back with a sigh.

"I'll go with you," PT stated.

"I'm not going to be welcome", Phillip said, curling his knees to his chest and plopping his head on top. PT knew he would say this and collapsed to the ground. He placed an arm around Phillip's shoulder and pulled him into his side. Planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"You'll regret it if you don't go," all PT got as a response was a deep sigh.

"We'll stand in the back and leave early. No one will know you're even there," PT hoped that the idea would help Phillip make his decision.

"Fine, I'll go. Just please, don't talk to everybody. They probably hate you more than they hate me," Phillip said quietly from between his knees. 

PT just chuckled.

The funeral wasn't much. It was actually fairly simple for someone of such wealth and high class. But Phillip's father had been frugal to the end. Honestly, he probably hadn't wanted to have to pay the hospital if his cough turned out to be nothing. And that decision cost him much more than a little bit of money. It left his wife, Phillip's mother alone.

PT was behaving as promised and no one had noticed them. Even if they had, no one had outright said anything. Which is why it was a shock to turn and see empty air when he wanted to see how Phillip was handling this.

After wandering around the rather expansive cemetery PT literally stumbled over Phillip. Without a word shared between the two, PT pulled out a small flask from his front pocket and passed it to Phillip.

"He was a real bastard," Philip said, taking a long swig from the flask.  
"I know," was the only response that Phillip got after passing the flask back to Phineas.  
"Then why the hell am I crying," Phillip said wiping at his damp cheek.

"Because you loved him. You never liked him, but you did love him," PT said. It was a lot like how he had felt with his father at times. But he never felt the lack of love for long, more for bringing the wrong order, never as a fact of everyday life that Phillip had grown up with.

"Cheers to that."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank ya'll for reading. I'm forcing a similar situation of Phillip that I am working on myself.


End file.
